I’ve listened to Vettel’s team radio that was broadcast after the Hamilton DRS pass (not the bit about the HRT which was not), and I’m pretty much sure he says the following general comment about F1 and DRS (or pretty much this):

“Unbelievable, I’m finished with formula 1 [with] these days… with these stupid overtakes”

After the race, all we heard was about the HRT backmarkers, but for me this particular radio message was Vettel getting frustrated and letting his real feelings about DRS become known publicly. I couldn’t understand why no-one was talking about this after the race, there were just 10 or so comments on twitter… that was it.

What do you think, does he really genuinely hate DRS, or was it just in the heat of the moment?
I hope the first, but I think it was just the latter. It is actually a little curious that none of the drivers have really been against it. It feels like they are just going with the flow and enjoying a new funny gadget, or maybe they are afraid that Bernie will hire someone to knock something pointy through their kneecaps.
Thank you for the video and everything! I hadn’t heard it before.

Why would you hope he hates DRS?
Anyway, obviously heat of the moment; we can’t even make out decently what he says in that garbled message.

From Vettel’s standpoint, he has every reason to hate DRS. It’s simple: his car is the slowest on the straight; they’re usually even behind the HRTs. DRS makes their already big handicap, only bigger, and we’ve seen often enough (Germany comes to mind) that it does absolutely nothing for them. Both in Germany and Austin, Vettel was slower with DRS than Alonso/Hamilton without.

I guess thread over then. Do all radio messages mean nothing then ‘in the heat of the moment’.

Personally, it reminds me of when you are in an argument (not a daily occurance, but it happens sometimes) and something you believe but never wish to come out just does so ‘in the heat of the moment.’

Having said that, I guess I’m willing him to hate DRS more than anything else!! I’m sure the teams ask all the drivers not to comment on the FIA regs in the media, that’s why we don’t hear much.

Personally, it reminds me of when you are in an argument (not a daily occurance, but it happens sometimes) and something you believe but never wish to come out just does so ‘in the heat of the moment.’

Like they say, sometimes the truth is spoken from the side of the mouth. I certainly wouldn’t automatically dismiss it just because he said it on the team radio and he was annoyed.

But I’ve heard that radio several times now and I’m still not entirely clear what he’s saying. I wouldn’t automatically connect it with DRS. He was probably just letting off steam.

If he’s sick of rubbish DRS motorway passes I can’t say I blame him, I know I am, and I’m not the one who just got overtaken and had to take a seven-point swing against me in the championship.

I dont think he hates DRS, and DRS passes, I think it has more to do with KAR holding him up. Well at least in my opinion he shouldnt be sick of it as he went from “last” to third two weeks ago, with the use of it. It would be awkward.

@mnmracer He drives the best car in the field and is the quickest driver of two so he is most likely to benefit from it. DRS helps you only if you’re quicker than your opponent, there’s no use of it if you’re slower or only equally fast. Then you can overtake other cars more easily after an early pit stop, a bad qualifying result or some misfortune (perfect example: Vettel at Abu Dhabi). The one who has the best car can potentially pass 23 cars and DRS makes that easier, whereas Karthikeyan wouldn’t lose anything if he had no DRS. For sure, I’m talking about the race as qualifying is another story although Red Bull’s DRS seems to be most efficient there.

To be honest, I heard that message as “Unbelievable how silly this formula 1 is these days, with these stupid overtakes”, but the idea’s the same however you slice it.

I don’t see how he can complain any louder than the rest of them though, seeing as it benefited him hugely in Abu Dhabi, and may not have been in the position he is in now without it. In an ideal world there would be no complaining because the device simply wouldn’t exist, but seeing as it does, and every driver will benefit from it and get screwed over by it over the course of a season, moaning during a race isn’t going to solve anything.

However, would the lead change have happened without DRS? I know many (including me to some extent) see it as “artificial” racing, but it has definitely succeeded in spicing up the show, by giving closer (well, closer might be the wrong word) races due to more overtakes and a new dimension of racing tactics. And that’s great for the casual fans, the only problem is that it leaves the more dedicated racing fans bored of “motorway passes”, as they’re often referred to as, and would like to see an overtake that isn’t completed halfway down a straight due to a piece of flappy bodywork.